All four members of the Board of Osho International Foundation (OIF), Zurich, have been provisionally suspended. These four are indirectly controlling the Pune Osho Meditation Resort through their appointees. Moreover, they cannot transfer any funds as ordered by the Federal Supervisory Board for Foundations, Switzerland, on 02 June 2014. Michael O’Byrne (Anand Jayesh) John Andrews (Prem Amrito) D’Arcy O’Byrne (Yogendra) Klaus Steeg (Pramod) The Board’s President, Michael O’Byrne (Anand Jayesh), the Vice President, John Andrews (Prem Amrito) and three board members: D’Arcy O’ Byrne (Yogendra), Klaus Steeg (Pramod) and Rudolf Kocher, of OIF, Zurich were removed from their positions and functions. The order was issued after an appeal by a former member of the Foundation Board of OIF, Robert Doetsch (Ramateertha of Osho Lotus Commune, Cologne, Germany). He complained to the Federal Supervisory Board for Foundations (ESA) on 20...

After the recent decision in the US about the use of OSHO and His meditations, first the Resort put out a press release and then Vatayana sent out a message from Global Connections. (0IF Zurich, the entity involved in the case, has not commented.) Virtually everything in the two messages out of Pune is untrue, a sad commentary on what has been happening in the community. It brings to mind OSHO’s warnings about the hypnotic effect of false statements: Adolf Hitler wrote in his autobiography ‘Mein Kampf’ that if you go on repeating a lie it becomes real. Repetition is the key. And he should know. He practised it. He is not simply asserting something theoretical, he practised it the whole of his life. He uttered lies, absolutely absurd lies, but one thing he insisted on — he went...

Hearing: October 30, 2008 Mailed: January 13, 2009 UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE Osho Friends International v. Osho International Foundation DECISION: plaintiff’s petition to cancel is hereby granted on the ground of genericness as to Registration Nos. 1815840; 2180173; and 2174607. Plaintiff’s petition to 82 Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of English (2009). Opposition No. 91121040 et.al. cancel is further granted on the ground of mere descriptiveness as to Registration No. 2322901. Accordingly, these registrations will be cancelled in due course. Plaintiff’s oppositions to the registration of application Serial Nos. 75834601; 76159554; 76159553; 76060676; 75683097; 76210213; 76158894; 76158895; and 76158893 are sustained on the ground of mere descriptiveness. To read full judgement click here for doc and pdf file formats. USPTO website link: http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pnam=Osho%20International%20Foundation%20%20%20%20 ...

Being a Franchised Center Osho asked that all His centers remain independent for a good reason. He realized that real consciousness doesn’t arise out of packaged processes. That’s why He spoke scathingly about the idea of registering trademarks for meditation techniques and asked for the centers to remain individual and unique. Nonetheless, if Osho was about anything, He was about freedom. That includes the freedom to make what other people see as mistakes. If you decide to become a franchised center under OIF, Zurich’s control and part of an organized spiritual group, then there are some things you should do to protect yourself. First, you can see from reading the articles on trademarks and the legal organization of the Osho movement, OIF, Zurich currently has no real trademark licenses or franchise agreements. The downside of this is that OIF,...

Being an Independent Center It’s very important that everyone keep in mind that you always have the right to have an independent center. There’s nothing OIF, Zurich can ever do to prevent you from doing that. OIF, Zurich is claiming to own the name of a religious leader/teacher as a trademark and claims that it can prevent others who are legitimately connected to the historical person Osho from using His name in their work. As you can see from the articles on trademarks, this will always be a very difficult argument for OIF, Zurich to make in any country. Even if by some bizarre decision OIF, Zurich’s claim to trademark ownership is upheld in some country, this will still not prevent centers from being independent. This is because trademarks don’t control the use of the name of the historical...

What You Can Do to Help There is something anyone who has spent time around Osho can do to help, and that is to provide information. OIF, Zurich’s entire claim to own legal rights in the name “Osho” is based a fictionalized history that never really happened. It’s essential that the real history of Osho’s work be documented so that this baseless claim can never be successful. It’s fine if OIF, Zurich wants to start a church and have franchised centers under an “Osho International Foundation” trademark, as long as they don’t claim exclusive rights to “Osho.” Many of us may have judgments about that and not agree, but the whole challenge Osho gave us when He named all of us successors was to find a way to hold a space for very different points of view. What isn’t...